California state lawmakers now grappling with a $40 billion budget deficit were advised five years ago of the mounting costs of illegal immigration in the state. In 2004, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) issued a study of the fiscal cost of illegal immigration to Californians. At that time, the cost to the state's taxpayers was $10.54 billion a year. That estimate included the cost of educating the children of illegal aliens - both those illegally in the country and those born here - in K-12 public schools, emergency medical care, and incarceration of criminal aliens. More here.